Tag: factory

“Our focus remains on providing interested employees options to transition including job opportunities at other GM plants. We remain committed to working with local government officials, our unions and each individual to find appropriate opportunities for them.” GM recently said it will cut up to 14,000 salaried and hourly jobs at facilities across the U.S. and Canada. However the move has also drawn criticism, particularly from labor leaders, politicians in the affected regions, and President D

“Strong U.S. and Canadian economies enable us to provide these opportunities now as we position General Motors for long-term success,” GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. “Our focus remains on providing interested employees options to transition including job opportunities at other GM plants. We remain committed to working with local government officials, our unions and each individual to find appropriate opportunities for them.”

The news comes as GM files layoff notices with federal regulators. GM recently said it will cut up to 14,000 salaried and hourly jobs at facilities across the U.S. and Canada. The decision was viewed by some in the industry as a necessary step for GM to stay competitive in the short term and make investments to grapple with disruptive businesses and technologies such as ride sharing and automated driving technologies. However the move has also drawn criticism, particularly from labor leaders, politicians in the affected regions, and President Donald Trump.

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WATCH: Local governments are offering millions for Amazon’s HQ2, but it may be a bad deal

Tesla is on pace to begin production at its factory in China in the second half of next year, the Shanghai government said Wednesday. Land leveling is basically complete and construction is about to begin, with the factory expected to be put partially into operation in the second half of 2019, according to an official WeChat post from the government. The article described a visit by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Vice Mayor Wu Qing. In mid-October, Tesla officially acquired an 864,885-square meter

Tesla is on pace to begin production at its factory in China in the second half of next year, the Shanghai government said Wednesday.

Land leveling is basically complete and construction is about to begin, with the factory expected to be put partially into operation in the second half of 2019, according to an official WeChat post from the government. The article described a visit by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Vice Mayor Wu Qing.

Tesla did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

In mid-October, Tesla officially acquired an 864,885-square meter plot in Shanghai’s Lingang area for the electric car maker’s first factory outside the U.S.

Elon Musk’s company has also launched an official WeChat account for hiring locals.

Producing in China, the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, would allow Tesla to reduce costs significantly. The company has said it is operating at a 55 percent to 60 percent cost disadvantage with a domestic peer due to ocean transport costs and tariffs.

China’s factory activity grew slightly in November, a private survey showed, though new export orders extended their decline in a further blow to the sector already hurt by the Sino-U.S. trade frictions. A more immediate worry for Chinese manufacturers is weak domestic demand. The Caixin survey showed ebbing client orders weighing on China’s factory output, which stalled in November after months of expansion, the survey showed. With client demand muted, an effort to contain operating costs led C

China’s factory activity grew slightly in November, a private survey showed, though new export orders extended their decline in a further blow to the sector already hurt by the Sino-U.S. trade frictions.

The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for November, released on Monday, ticked up to 50.2 from 50.1 in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 50.0, the level that separates expansion from contraction.

Domestic orders have been losing momentum in recent quarters as the world’s second-largest economy slows. Overall, a sub-index measuring new orders did improve slightly to 50.9 in November from 50.4 in the previous month, after manufacturers cut prices.

Exports have held up so far, but the lingering threat of higher U.S. tariffs next year amid a trade war with the United States, China’s No.1 trade partner, remained a drag on Chinese manufacturing.

That risk was underscored by the sub-index for new export orders shrinking to 47.7 in November from 48.8 a month earlier, amid relatively weak global demand conditions, according to the survey.

Over the weekend, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina, China and the United States agreed to suspend additional tariffs in a deal that keeps their trade war from escalating for now.

Trump said he would not increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent on Jan. 1 as previously announced, with the two sides aiming to reach an agreement within 90 days.

A more immediate worry for Chinese manufacturers is weak domestic demand.

The Caixin survey showed ebbing client orders weighing on China’s factory output, which stalled in November after months of expansion, the survey showed.

To counter weaker domestic demand, manufacturers cut prices for the first time in more than a year and a half. But that was not enough to prevent a rise in inventories, the first increase since April.

The output prices sub-index fell below the 50-mark to 49.8 in November, boding ill for profit margins. Profit growth at China’s industrial firms slowed for a sixth month in October, according to the latest official data.

The gauge on overall production fell to 50.0 from 50.1 in the previous month.

The downbeat readings backed Friday’s official PMI survey for November showing growth in the nation’s vast factory sector sliding to over a two-year low.

With client demand muted, an effort to contain operating costs led Chinese manufacturers to further reduce staff, while confidence towards the year ahead stayed subdued, according to the survey.

The employment sub-index slipped to 48.4 in November from 48.8 in October.

One bright spot – average input costs grew at their slowest pace in seven months.

Yet the trade frictions with the United States obscured the outlook for China’s economy, which has been slowing this year and is widely expected to cool further in 2019.

The United States and China have levied tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods this year.

A subindex of prices paid fell to 60.7 from 71.6 in October, coming in well below estimates for a reading of 70. Markit’s U.S. manufacturing PMI fell to 55.3 from 55.7 in October, the lowest since August and down slightly from Markit’s preliminary reading for November. Policymakers flagged issues including signs of slowing in interest-rate sensitive sectors, along with global risks and other factors. Data on Thursday showed U.S. consumer spending had risen by the most in seven months in October,

A subindex of prices paid fell to 60.7 from 71.6 in October, coming in well below estimates for a reading of 70. Gauges of new orders and employment rose.

Separate figures on Monday from financial data firm Markit showed the pace of growth in the factory sector slipped to a three-month low, though a gauge of new orders ticked higher. Markit’s U.S. manufacturing PMI fell to 55.3 from 55.7 in October, the lowest since August and down slightly from Markit’s preliminary reading for November.

Financial markets were little moved by the data as investors focused on signs of progress in trade negotiations between the United States and China.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting released on Thursday showed nearly all Fed officials had agreed another rate hike was warranted soon but also opened debate on whether to pause further increases. Policymakers flagged issues including signs of slowing in interest-rate sensitive sectors, along with global risks and other factors.

Data on Thursday showed U.S. consumer spending had risen by the most in seven months in October, but that underlying price pressures slowed.

Testimony from Fed Chair Jerome Powell to Congress’s Joint Economic Committee about the economic outlook scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed due to a national day of mourning following the death of former President George H.W. Bush. No new date for the testimony has been announced. Powell last week had said the central bank’s policy rate was now “just below” estimates of a level that neither brakes nor boosts a healthy U.S. economy.

The 50-point mark is considered neutral territory, indicating no growth in activity or contraction on a monthly basis. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the official gauge would hold steady from October’s low level, suggesting marginal growth. The production sub-index fell to 51.9 in November from 52 in October, while a new orders sub-index — an indicator of future activity — declined to 50.4 from 50.8. New export orders shrank for a sixth straight month. Another sister survey released b

Growth in China’s vast manufacturing sector stalled for the first time in over two years in November as new orders shrank, adding pressure on Beijing ahead of high-stakes trade talks between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump this weekend.

The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), released on Friday, fell to 50 in November, missing market expectations and down from 50.2 in October.

The 50-point mark is considered neutral territory, indicating no growth in activity or contraction on a monthly basis.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the official gauge would hold steady from October’s low level, suggesting marginal growth.

The downbeat reading on China’s factory activity came a day ahead of a closely watched dinner meeting between Trump and Xi on the sidelines of a G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, their first meeting since the two nations began imposing tariffs on each other’s goods earlier this year.

But few market watchers expect a major breakthrough in the trade dispute, as neither side has indicated any intention of making major concessions.

The Trump administration has pointed to growing signs of economic weakness in China and its slumping stock markets as proof that the United States is winning the trade war.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday that Trump is ready to hike tariffs and could add duties on another $267 billion of Chinese imports if there is no breakthrough in the meeting.

The China PMI survey showed further weakness in new orders from at home and abroad.

The production sub-index fell to 51.9 in November from 52 in October, while a new orders sub-index — an indicator of future activity — declined to 50.4 from 50.8.

New export orders shrank for a sixth straight month. The sub-index rose marginally to 47 from 46.9 in October.

Chinese manufacturers’ import orders also shrank, falling to 47.1 from 47.6 in October and reflecting weakening domestic demand.

China’s exports have been surprisingly resilient so far this year as shippers rush out goods to beat U.S. tariffs, but orders have been slumping for months, raising the risk of a sharp drop soon if the U.S. raises tariffs as planned on Jan. 1.

Another sister survey released by the NBS on Friday showed growth in China’s service sector moderated in November, but remained at solid levels. The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dipped to 53.4 from 53.9 the previous month.

BMW is considering a second U.S. manufacturing plant that could produce engines and transmissions, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said on Tuesday, shortly after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump would impose tariffs on imported cars from next week. May is drumming up support for the divorce deal with the European Union ahead of a December 11 vote in British parliament. BMW is considering changes to U.S. operations as sales in the region grow, Krueger said. BMW has a U.S. vehicle assembly

BMW is considering a second U.S. manufacturing plant that could produce engines and transmissions, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said on Tuesday, shortly after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump would impose tariffs on imported cars from next week.

Krueger in an interview at the Los Angeles Auto Show also said he backed British Prime Minister Theresa May’s current Brexit plan to divorce the United Kingdom from the European Union.

“The compromise on the table is something I can clearly support,” he said. May is drumming up support for the divorce deal with the European Union ahead of a December 11 vote in British parliament.

BMW is considering changes to U.S. operations as sales in the region grow, Krueger said. BMW has a U.S. vehicle assembly plant, in South Carolina, is planning to open a Mexico factory next year, and is considering changes to its current scheme of importing engines and transmissions.

“We’re at the range where you could think about a second location” in the United States, he said, adding that such a factory would provide a natural currency hedge.

GM’s current CEO Mary Barra took some heat from U.S. President Donald Trump, who said Monday that the automaker should put another factory in Ohio, where it plans to wind down production of one plant after 2019. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was disappointed the company will no longer produce vehicles at a plant in Ontario. “This isn’t a choice that is being made in the Oval Office or the board room or on the factory floor. They are being made around the kitchen table,” said Ake

General Motors’ decision to essentially stop production at five factories in North America and eliminate roughly 14,700 jobs wasn’t a political one, despite pressure from leaders in Washington and Canada to reverse course, said former CEO Dan Akerson.

GM’s current CEO Mary Barra took some heat from U.S. President Donald Trump, who said Monday that the automaker should put another factory in Ohio, where it plans to wind down production of one plant after 2019. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was disappointed the company will no longer produce vehicles at a plant in Ontario. The United Auto Workers labor union also said it will fight GM’s decision.

But GM is simply doing what it can to maximize its efficiency and prepare for a still uncertain future in the automotive industry, Akerson said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday. Its choice to shift production away from factories that make cars and to make better-selling and more profitable SUVs, trucks and crossover vehicles is simply responding to market forces.

Car sales have dropped, in just five or six years, from representing 50 to 60 percent of the market to 20 to 30 percent of the market.

“This isn’t a choice that is being made in the Oval Office or the board room or on the factory floor. They are being made around the kitchen table,” said Akerson, who served as GM’s CEO from 2010 to 2014. “Fundamentally, the industry is oversupplied right now. GM’s plants are running at about 70 to 71 percent capacity. You can’t make money and produce cash to fund future ambitions, moves that I think are necessary to position the company for the long term.”

In the past, the company was far more reluctant to make these tough choices to secure its future, and suffered for it, he said.

“These decisions weren’t made back in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the inevitable came to pass, and the company went into bankruptcy,” he said.

Now a new generation of consumers is becoming more influential in the market, and they appear to have different buying habits and an unprecedented interest in other types of mobility products and services, such as ride-sharing.

“Right now, GM is trying to change,” he said. “They’re looking for a couple more cards, trying to show more flexibility, trying to free up cash flow in the future so they can play the electric game, so they can play the shared ownership game, and it is critically important that the company position itself while it is healthy, not in a crisis.”

Automation will be a major driver for industries in the future, so companies will need both robots and a gamut of related manufacturing technologies, according to the chairman of multinational tech firm ABB. But ABB Chairman Peter Voser told CNBC’s Akiko Fujita that the decision to invest in the robotics factory was influenced by growing automation needs across industries. “What will be driving the industries in the future is going to be automation, towards autonomous manufacturing,” Voser said

Automation will be a major driver for industries in the future, so companies will need both robots and a gamut of related manufacturing technologies, according to the chairman of multinational tech firm ABB.

Last month, the company announced that it will invest $150 million to build an advanced robotics factory in Shanghai where robots will make other robots. It is expected to begin operations by the end of 2020 and will also have an onsite research and development center to pursue innovations in artificial intelligence.

ABB’s latest investment in China comes at a time when growth prospects for the world’s second-largest economy appears to be slowing amid an ongoing trade fight with the United States.

But ABB Chairman Peter Voser told CNBC’s Akiko Fujita that the decision to invest in the robotics factory was influenced by growing automation needs across industries.

“What will be driving the industries in the future is going to be automation, towards autonomous manufacturing,” Voser said at the Nikkei Global Management Forum in Tokyo. “For that, you need robots, but it’s not just the robot itself as a product — but you need also end-to-end solutions for manufacturing. That’s why we are building this factory.”

China is the world’s largest robot market, according to the company.

Voser said the factory will serve the Chinese market where the manufacturing sector has a “great need to automate.”

Part of that need will likely be driven by Beijing’s push for Made in China 2025, an ambitious industrial policy that aims to locally develop high-end technologies to catch up with Western rivals such as the U.S. and Germany.

China has historically used its manufacturing capacity to employ the country’s massive population in factories that made goods for the rest of the world. But, following decades of growth, rising wages started consuming profits that pushed companies to consider alternate regions for manufacturing, such as Southeast Asia.

That led Chinese President Xi Jinping to call for a so-called “robot revolution” in manufacturing a few years ago, to boost productivity. Moreover, the country’s aging population made it necessary for Beijing to start looking at automation as a viable alternative.

Last summer, China called on domestic firms to make more robots. A widespread move toward automation could potentially have a massive impact on the country’s workforce: In 2016, the World Bank said its research predicted about 77 percent of existing jobs in China will be threatened by automation. Such a prospect could have serious economic consequences.

On the trade front, Voser said ABB is “less affected by some of the trade discussions” that are ongoing since the company manufactures and sells locally. It produces up to 90 percent of the products it sells in China within its borders, the chairman said. For the United States, that number is up to 70 percent.

So far, the U.S. has levied tariffs on an extensive list of Chinese products. Beijing, for its part, responded with duties on products from the U.S.

Factory goods orders rose 0.7 percent amid strong demand for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department said on Friday. Data for August was revised up to show factory orders surging 2.6 percent instead of the previously reported 2.3 percent increase. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders gaining 0.5 percent in September. An Institute for Supply Management survey of manufacturers published on Thursday showed a measure of new factory orders dropping to a 1-1/2-year low in

Worker shortages, an increasingly bitter trade war between the United States and China, a strong dollar and slowing global economic growth are restraining momentum in manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the U.S. economy.

An Institute for Supply Management survey of manufacturers published on Thursday showed a measure of new factory orders dropping to a 1-1/2-year low in October.

There were increases in orders for primary metals, machinery and computers and electronic products in September. Orders for electronic equipment, appliances and components fell.

The Commerce Department also said September orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are seen as a measure of business spending plans, slipped 0.1 percent as reported last month. Orders for these so-called core capital goods fell 0.2 percent in August.

Shipments of core capital goods, which are used to calculate business equipment spending in the gross domestic product report, dipped 0.1 percent in September instead of being unchanged as reported last month.

Core capital goods shipments fell 0.1 percent in August. Business spending on equipment stalled in the third quarter.

Chinese factory activity expanded sightly in October despite an ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., a survey of small and medium-sized enterprises in China showed. Despite the better-than-expected headline number and slight expansion in manufacturing activity for October, a detailed reading of the survey showed softness in the Chinese economy. Official manufacturing PMI was 50.2 in October — lower than the 50.6 that analysts expected in a Reuters poll. Manufacturing PMI will likely drop below 5

Chinese factory activity expanded sightly in October despite an ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., a survey of small and medium-sized enterprises in China showed.

On Thursday, Caixin and IHS Markit reported October Purchasing Managers’ index (PMI) was 50.1 for October, beating analysts’ expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the reading to have dipped slightly to 49.9 from 50.0 in September.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.

Despite the better-than-expected headline number and slight expansion in manufacturing activity for October, a detailed reading of the survey showed softness in the Chinese economy.

The sub-index for new orders improved from a two-year low in September but remained in negative territory. New export sales dropped for the seventh straight month.

“China’s economy has not seen obvious improvement,” said Zhengsheng Zhong, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, a Caixin subsidiary in a press release.

“Overall, expansion across the manufacturing sector was still weak. Production and business confidence continued to cool despite stable demand. The pressure on production costs didn’t ease,” Zhong added.

On Wednesday, China reported the country’s weakest manufacturing growth in more than two years.

Official manufacturing PMI was 50.2 in October — lower than the 50.6 that analysts expected in a Reuters poll. The official manufacturing PMI was 50.8 in September.

China’s official PMI gauge focuses on large companies and state-owned enterprises, while the private survey by Caixin and IHS focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.

October was the first full month after the latest U.S. tariffs went into effect. Washington and Beijing slapped additional tariffs on each other’s goods on Sept. 24.

Even though October manufacturing data from China was positive, there will be more pressure from the U.S. tariffs in the months ahead, said Wang Tao, head of China economic research at UBS Investment Bank. Manufacturing PMI will likely drop below 50 in November and December, Wang told CNBC on Thursday.

“Q4 and Q1 next year will feel the brunt of the tariff impact,” she added.

Economic data from China is being closely watched amid a trade war between the two economic giants.

Although economic data out of China has held up so far this year even amid the trade dispute with the U.S., analysts said many exporters were rushing to ship products before American tariffs on the goods hit.

Already, China reported slower-than-expected growth of 6.5 percent in the third quarter of the year — its weakest pace since the first quarter of 2009.

Even before the escalation in trade tensions with the U.S. this year, Beijing was already trying to manage a slowdown in its economy after three decades of breakneck growth.

The trade war with the U.S. is now complicating those efforts, with analysts expecting Beijing to boost policy easing measures to manage the threats from the bilateral dispute that may derail growth.

On Wednesday, China’s powerful politburo — the ruling Communist Party’s top decision-making body — said the country will take more timely steps to support its economy, which faces increasing pressures, state news agency Xinhua reported.